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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Nashville Predators were nominated for four awards in the 2011 NHL Awards in Las Vegas, which was good for second most in the NHL. They walked away from the awards without winning any of them.

Nicklas Lidstrom took home the Norris Trophy, which is given to the best all-around defenseman in the NHL. Nashville's Shea Weber finished second in the voting. Personally, I think this was bogus. Lidstrom was a minus-2 on the season, meaning that the opposition scored more while he was out on the ice than the Red Wings did. That's not exactly great defense in my mind. I think this award was given to Lidstrom simply because of the speculation that he might retire.

To nobody's surprise, Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins took home the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year. While it's impressive that he got the Penguins to the playoffs without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, that seems to be the only reason he won the award. Barry Trotz's time will come.

In one of the biggest surprises of the night, Vancouver's Mike Gillis won General Mangager of the year over David Poile and Steve Yzerman. By most opinions going into the awards, Gillis was expected to come in 3rd place.

Tim Thomas won the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender, and there isn't an argument that can be made against him. He set the all-time NHL record for save percentage in a single season.

Pekka Rinne finished in 4th place for the Hart Trophy, which is given to the MVP of the NHL. Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks won the award.

Now the hockey world will turn their attention to the NHL Draft, which begins on Friday. Stay tuned to Hockey Night in Nashville for coverage of the NHL Draft throughout the weekend.